Pamuk cancels Germany visit amid safety fears
Jess Smee in Berlin
Wednesday January 31, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Turkish Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk has cancelled a publicity tour of
Germany amid fears for his safety following the murder of
Turkish-Armenian editor Hrant Dink.
Hanser Verlag, Pamuk’s German publisher, confirmed that the celebrated
author had called off a string of book readings in Hamburg, Cologne
and Stuttgart. He was also due to receive an honourary degree at
Berlin’s Free University on Friday.
Fears for Pamuk’s safety are running high. Last week, Yasin Hayal, the
man who police say has confessed to orchestrating Dink’s murder,
issued what appeared to be a direct threat to the novelist. "Orhan
Pamuk, be smart! Be smart!" he called to journalists as he was being
taken to an Istanbul courtroom by police. Police are investigating
whether his words constitute a threat to the novelist, something that
could lead to Hayal’s prosecution.
Both Pamuk and Dink have been the focus of controversy in Turkey after
talking openly about the mass killings of Armenians in the early 20th
century. They have been accused of the crime of "insulting
Turkishness". Pamuk is famed for novels such as Snow and My Name is
Red and won the Nobel prize for literature in 2006. His publisher said
there were no immediate plans to reschedule the trip to the Germany
where Pamuk has a large readership, partly because of the country’s
sizable Turkish community.
Dink’s assassination earlier this month has prompted an outpouring of
outrage at home and abroad. Within Turkey it has sparked fierce debate
about excessive nationalism and freedom of expression.